


Just Tea

by Maerissa



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Crushes, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22123147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maerissa/pseuds/Maerissa
Summary: Ingrid and Sylvain (much to Ingrid's chagrin) have a heart-to-heart about crushes.
Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Mercedes von Martritz
Comments: 1
Kudos: 37





	Just Tea

_another cup of fancy herbal tea_   
_that drowns my fears in lavender and pine_   
_another thought of you on top of me_   
_your slender fingers intertwined with mine_

_you know i've never felt this way before_   
_i hope you know, although i've never said_   
_that every time i lean against your door_   
_a million thoughts start swirling through my head_

_i'm sorry if i let my tea go cold_   
_because i dwell on every word you say_   
_and of my dreams, the few where i grow old_   
_have you beside me every single day_

_the thought of you, so delicate and kind,_   
_up close to me, will never leave my mind_

* * *

"I already told you, it isn't love."

Ingrid uneasily tapped her fingernails against her thumb, already regretting bringing this up with Sylvain. 

"I dunno, the way you act around her makes it pretty clear on its own."

_Sylvain_ , of all people. The irony of going to him to talk about feelings was certainly not lost on her. _But_ , her mind weakly tried to argue against itself, who else could she have brought this up with? His Highness was out of the question, Felix would never give her the time of day, Ashe had no experience (she figured), Annette would've been an obvious risk, Dorothea - she nearly flustered at the thought - would be far too much for her to handle… 

"So you want me to help set things up between you, yeah?" 

Sylvain's unfairly casual remark snapped her out of her thoughts, and brought her back to wishing she hadn't talked to him in the first place. 

"Stop it, Sylvain. I just said it's not like that," Ingrid complained, a traitorous flush starting to spread across her face. "We just… have tea."

Images flashed in her mind - first of flawlessly decorated pastries and tablecloths with intricate patterns, then far too many vivid recollections from when she couldn't keep her eyes from dwelling on her face, the perfectly applied lipstick, the way her eyes nearly closed as she smiled - and she dug her fingernails in to distract her. 

"Of course, just tea," Sylvain chuckled in acknowledgement of her deepening blush. "Oh, and it's been great to see you getting into makeup too."

Ingrid dug her nails in harder. She still didn't really have any interest in makeup - as she suspected that Sylvain knew full well - but their lessons in her bedroom were still too important to her. As much as she didn't want to think about the way soft fingertips brushing against her cheeks felt, or the warmth of their faces up close to each other as the mascara brush ran along her lashes, her mind kept dwelling in spite of herself.

“...Yes, I’m grateful to her for that,” Ingrid said, trying her best to suppress the echoing sensations of her chin being gently held to apply lipstick, “but it doesn’t help explain why thinking about her does… this to me.”

“Because you’re crushing. Obviously. Look, being around someone you love is always weir–”

“I loved Glenn. This isn’t like that at all.”

“...That wasn’t love.”

Ingrid’s fidgeting hand dropped to the table with a thud, and she leaned in forcefully towards Sylvain. “ _Excuse me?_ ”

“No, I’m sorry, that’s bad wording. There’s just a–”

“You don't think I loved him?” Ingrid cut him off again, voice tinged with heavy exasperation.

“You were a kid, Ingrid. You admired Glenn, hell, you looked like you wanted to _be_ him, but you weren’t even thirteen. It’s just… not the same.”

Her eyes stayed locked on his, unblinking. “I could never love anyone like I loved him.”

Sylvain sighed. “Okay, fine, I get it. If that’s what love is to you, I won’t challenge it. We’ll just go on calling this… a crush instead. Deal?”

Ingrid responded with an even deeper sigh and leaned back in her chair, resigned.

“...Alright, so as I was saying,” Sylvain continued, “being around someone you’re _crushing on_ always feels weird. You really haven’t felt this way before at all? Not even for any of the boys back in Faerghus?”

“I had Glenn, and I played with you, Dimitri and Felix,” she replied, and quickly thought to add “...and _no_ , before you ask, I’ve never felt like this about you.”

Sylvain chuckled and tilted his head, mulling over the implications of what she’d just said. “Shame. ...And, uh, you didn’t meet a lot of girls your age before Garreg Mach, right?”

“Not really, no. I was always with you guys.”

“...Right.” The corner of Sylvain’s mouth turned slightly upward, as he straightened his head again. “Well, that just makes this even more fun. Seriously, I know it feels wild, but feelings this... pure are pretty rare. I’ve been through all of this too many times with too many girls to deserve to feel like that anymore, but you kinda owe it to yourself – and to her – to make something out of it. Unless you want to keep feeling nothing but this around her for the rest of the year?”

Something about Sylvain’s tone made Ingrid pause, and she sat in silence for a few moments, fingernails back to drumming against the side of her thumb, before speaking up.

“...So suppose you would help me... set something up, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday ingrid! here's entry 3 in my shamelessly self-pandering ingrid-interacting-with-her-friends oneshots to celebrate 🎉
> 
> (poem taken from my equally shameless [3h sonnet collection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21725581?view_full_work=true) but it fit so well with the themes here i had to sneak it in)


End file.
